Boys will be boys
by Peeper Stockwell
Summary: Bogg surprises Jeff to a trip to Dayotona, Florida to see Richard Petty. But, why is the Omni blinking red?
1. Chapter 2

Phineas Bogg looked over at his partner who was sitting on the

grass, gazing out at the lake. He knew what Jeff was thinking. It

had been a boring couple of days at VHQ and he was going nuts

as well.

"Hey, kid, what you say we go for some R&R?" he asked,

breaking the silence.

The twelve year old boy glanced up at him, hope in his big brown

eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Phineas nodded.

"Where to?"

"It's a surprise," Phineas smiled at the boy. His boy.

"Bogggg,"

"Grab hold, kid. We're going,"

"Now?" he asked.

"Now,"

A few minutes later, they were standing in front of the Daytona

International Speedway, Florida in the summer of 1968.

"Where are we?" Jeff asked.

"Daytona, Florida. 1968."

" The Pepsi 500??" Jeff's eye's went big. He loved racing, even

more so, he loved Richard Petty! And this big pirate surprised him

on a trip to see a race! Tears of joy filled his eyes.

"Oh, Bogg!" he wrapped his arms around his friend.

"I take it you like the surprise?"

"Like it? I love it!"

"Wanna go in?"

"Are you kidding?! Let's go!"

Jeff practically dragged Bogg to the building. He was searching the

area for any sign of Richard Petty or at least any pictures on the

walls.

To his amazement, he didn't find a singal picture of the race car

driver.

"Bogg, is the omni red?" he asked.

"Ya know, I never checked. Hold on," Phineas opened it up

"Yep. And blinking like crazy,"

Phineas watched Jeff go up to the security guard.

"Excuse me, sir. What happened to Richard Petty?"

"Richard who?"

"Richard Petty," Jeffrey repeated.

"I remember a Lee Petty, but he retired a few years back when his

son got killed."

"What?!" Jeff gasped.

"His son, Richard, got killed while cleaning his father's car."

"No way!"

The guard nodded and slowly walked away.

For a minute, Jeff just stood there, trying to take it all in. A few

feet behind him, Phineas was watching Jeff. The boy had his head down, looking a the ground. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Before he could make the move to go to his boy, Jeff turned and

went to him.

"What's wrong, kid?" Phineas put a firm hand on his shoulder.

Jeff sighed. "Richard Petty got killed years ago,"

"Oh, geeze. How?"

"The guard didn't say."

"That's not good, is it?"

"No, Bogg, it isn't."

"I'm not sure it's important enough,"

"Bogg, how can you say that? Richard Petty is the greatest race

driver in the world."

"It's not part of history, kid. I'm sorry,"

"Oh, Bogg, c'mon! We can't leave not knowing what happened to

Richard Petty! I mean, geeeeeze, who else can I watch in car racing???"

Phineas looked at Jeff in disbelief. He could never understand cars

or ever wanted to be in one again.

The last time he was in a car was when he and Jeff had to rescue

Babe Ruth and Cleopatra. And he

wasn't sure he liked them even then! Too much to remember how

to drive the things and transportation 1A didn't help matters,

either!

"Okay, where to, kid?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking..."

"Taking a find time to have a brain failure, aren't you?"

"I'm not really good at this kind of history, Bogg, so sue me!" Jeff

sighed, trying to get his mind together.

The news about Richard Petty had blown him away. If only he

could get his partner to understand...


	2. food for the taking

As usual, the two voyagers landed hard on the ground.

"Ow!!! I can't wait till they get a new one fixed! When did they say that was gonna be?" Jeff moaned as he got up and helped Phineas Bogg.

The older voyager sighed. He was getting tired of falling on his behind, too, expecailly on hard ground.

"I don't think they did, Kid. Jeremy DID say they were working on it, though." Bogg sighed.

"Well, I think they need to work on it a little faster!" Jeffrey began to rub his behind. It wasn't as bad as when they landed on the Titanic, though. THAT did hurt!

"Where are we?" came the usual question.

"Hold on, let me check." Phineas flipped open the omni.

"Bat's breath!"

"Don't tell me: it's on the brink again." Jeffrey rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I can't help that, ya know."

"Yeah, yeah. Tell me another one."

The two heard some screaming behind them and turned around. They saw two girls of the age of twelve. A white girl on top of the black girl with a pair of scissors!

"We've gotta get them apart!" Bogg said.

"You're not telling me anything different,"

"Watch it," Bogg warned his son. Sometimes the kid's smart mouth could get on his nerves. Expecailly after the last Voyage. He was worn totally and Jeff's smart remarks didn't help.

"You grab the black girl, I'll grab the white one."

"Gotcha,"

They both ran and grabbed arms. The little blond girl in Bogg's arms kept thrashing so, that Bogg was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold on to her.

"Hey, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you!" Bogg told the girl, but she didn't seem to listen.

He looked up and saw that Jeff was holding the other girl in a tight hug. She seemed to be crying in his chest and Jeff was gently rubbing the girl's head.

"What in bloody blazes is going on here!" a male's voice boomed behind Bogg.

Bogg calmy turned, all the meanwhile having the girl still in his grip.

"Sir, this little girl was about to cut that one's hair with a pair of scissors!"

"I beg your pardon, but my girl doesn't cut other people's hair!" the dark haird man said, his eyes blazzing with anger.

Jeff spoke up. "Sir, she was ontop of this girl. I saw it,"

Just then did they realize that others had followed the older man. A nice blond woman, a grey haird woman and a young blond man.

"What's happened?" the blond woman asked.

"This gentleman claims that Helen tried to cut Patsy's hair just now,"

The blond woman went to the girl still in Phineas's grip. Bogg let go gladly as the woman took her away.

Feeling the woman, the girl made a moan and wrapped her arms around her.

Jeff gasped. Now he knew where they were! But, he also knew he had to wait till he and Bogg were alone in order to tell his father the information. And the way it looked like, it wasn't going to be soon.

"Oh, Helen, how can I tell you not to do such things??" the woman, appearantly Mrs. Keller, said.

Captain Keller cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, my dear man. I should have realized that Helen would do such a thing,"

Phineas excepted the man's hand for a handshake.

"It's all right, sir. Looks like she's calmed down now,"

"Yes, Helen always calms down when her mother is near."

Suddenly, a black woman came charging towards Jeff and Patsy.

"Patsy, how many times do I need to tell you NOT to mess with Miss Helen?! Now, get back to the house before I give you a whipping!"

Patsy let go of Jeff, gave him a small smile and ran, with her mother chacing after her.

"I'm Phineas Bogg, this is my son, Jeff." Bogg introduced themselves. He was getting quite comfortable in calling Jeff his son and really starting to enjoy it.

Captian Keller nodded towards Jeff. Mrs. Keller led Helen to the huge house.

"We were about to have dinner when this commotion started. Would you care to join us as an added thank you?" Captain Keller asked.

"We'd be honored," Bogg nodded and looked over at Jeff.

Until then, they hadn't realized how hungry they were.

Jeff pulled on Bogg's sleeve and the pirate leaned towards him.

"Bogg, I need to tell you where we are,"

Phineas looked over to Captain Keller. "Excuse me. My son and I have to talk about something, but we'll join you in a few minutes."

"Take your time, Phineas. We'll set up plates for you,"

Jeff waited till they were all inside.

"So, what's up, kid?"

"Bogg, that little girl is Helen Keller."

"So?" Bogg shrugged.

Jeff sighed. "She's deaf and blind,"

"Oh, geeeze. No wonder she acted the way she did! Why don't they have a teacher to help her?"

It was Jeff's turn to shrug. "Beats me. She's my age, but she's supposed to behave better than that by now,"

"So, something must have happened in order for the teacher not to show up."

"Tell me something I DON'T know," Jeff retorted back.

"Will you quit it? I'm tired and hungry, too, ya know."

"I'm sorry. I just get cranky when I'm hungry,"

Bogg smiled and put an arm around his son. "Tell me something I DON'T know," they both laughed as they walked into the house.

James Keller said a small prayer and plates of delicious food were passed to them. Oh, the smell of the pot roast and potatoes...Jeff knew better than to go ahead and dig in while he was in a stranger's house.

He wanted impatiently till everyone was given a plate. Bogg was seated next to Captain Keller while Jeff was seated next to Helen. He supposed it was because of their age and for right now he didn't mind.

He was finally able to dig in. Suddenly, Helen got up and started helping herself to everyone's plate, even though her's were loaded! Jeff watched her unbelievingly and looked over at Bogg. The pirate just shrugged and kept eating.

When Helen came to Jeff's plate, he pushed her hand away. "Stop that," he said, though he knew she didn't hear him.

She tried it again. "I said stop it!" he shoved the hand away again.

"Helen's used to helping herself to other's plate," Mrs. Keller informed him.

"Well, I'm not."

For some reason, she stopped and put her grubby hands in his hair and began to feel his head and face.

"Oh, gross," Jeff moaned.

Then, she wrapped her arms around his neck, almost choking him. The stanger was going to be her playmate and if she couldn't have him...no one will!


	3. sight for sore eyes

Phineas busied himself by helping James in the barn. Once in awhile, he'd glance out the door to check

on Jeffrey, who was trying his best to teach Helen letters. Earlier, they had gone to the store and bought

a book on sign language. Se far Helen was NOT interested in learning. She kept fingering Jeff's lips

while he spoke.

"Quit it,"he heard Jeff moan and shove her hand away.

"Now, THIS is a rock," Jeffrey said, putting the object in her hand and spelling it.

Helen complied.

Jeff shook his head. "No, Helen. Not doll...rock."

Phineas checked the omni, hoping it had turned green. To his dismay, it was still blinking red like

crazy.

"Bat's breath," he said out loud.

"Pardon?" James asked as he stopped raking the hay.

"Nothing. Just looks like Jeff is having one heck of a time with Helen."

James laughed. "She is a hard headed person. It'll be a wonder if Jeff can teach her anything,"

Phineas smiled. "Well, my boy is just as stubborn, James. Once he's got his mind set on something, he

won't rest till it's done."

James chuckled. "Sounds like your son and my sister will make a good pair."

Phineas would have had to agree, if the circumstances were different. He may have to leave Jeffrey here

in order to find Anne. He would have to tell the boy tonight and he wasn't looking forward to it.

"No! Bogg, you can't leave me! You can't!" Jeffrey cried out, horror in his brown eyes.

"Look, Jeff, the light's not gonna change unless Anne's here. THAT'S whats wrong. YOU know and I

know it,"

"But, why can't I come with you? I can pretend I'm blind and we'll find Anne--"

"No, Jeff. I have to do it on my own. I don't know why, but it's a feeling I have in my gut,"

"Will you be able to find me?" fear still clearly in the boy's face and voice.

Phineas worked up a smile and put his arms around the boy. "I couldn't loose you if I tried,"

"When will you go?" Jeff forced himself to ask.

"Now," Phineas forced himself away from Jeff, who had tears in his eyes.

"Don't forget me," Jeff begged.

"I won't, kid. I'll be back, I promise."

With that, Phineas was gone. Jeff wiped the unwanted tears away. He wished he could have gone with

Phineas. Now, he felt more alone than ever.

"Jeffy! Jeffy!" came Helen's voice from the hallway.

He maybe alone, but he had work to do. ALONE...

Sighing, Jeff went in the hallway and found Helen feeling the wall and walking slowly. He grabbed her

hand. He patted on the door and spelled into her hand. She spelled it back. Slowly, but she DID spell it.

"Good!" he took her hand and put it up to his head and he nodded.

"Dinner, everyone!" he heard Mrs. Keller shouting throughout the house.

_Dinner_, he spelled into her hand. She thought for a moment and shrugged. That told Jeffrey she didn't

a clue what he just told her.

_Eat_, he decided. Her face brightened at the merry thought of food. She grabbed his hand and they both

went down the breakfast nook where everyone were already seated.

"Sorry. Got caught up in spelling," Jeffrey apologized as he and Helen sat down.

"Where is your father, Jeffrey?" Mr. Keller asked.

_Bat's breath_, he moaned inwardly.

"He had to go somewhere, but he'll be back shortly." he decided on saying. Lier, he told himself. But,

what else was he to say??? That his _father_ had to omni out in order to find Anne? They'd have him

committed!

"Will he be back tomorrow? I'd like to finish the barn if we can," James said.

"He might be. He didn't say how long he'd be gone,"

Jeff glanced at his plate. He didn't want the older

man to see his tears that were starting to form again. He needed to to stop this crying...he was getting

much too old for that!

"Oh," James went to eating.

_Bogg, you'd better get back here quick!_

Meanwhile, in March third of 1887, Bogg landed hard on a grassy ground. He automatically looked

around for Jeff. _Old habits die hard_, Bogg thought.

He looked around his surrounds and loved the nice cool breeze that hit his face and arms. Suddenly,

he heard screams coming not too far from him. He got up and sprinted to the area of the screams. To

his horror, a runaway carriage was heading right for him. He dashed to the carriage and jumped up on

the horse. With all his might, he pulled on the reigns until the horse stopped. After a few minutes, the

horse finally slowed down. With shaky legs, he put his feet on the ground.

"We thank you kindly, sir. You just saved our lives," said the dark haired woman as he helped them off

the carriage.

The blond woman smiled at him as he eased her to the ground. He could feel her shaking right

through her cloths!

"We were heading for the house when a snake spooked the horse. If you hadn't had stopped the horse,

we would have gone over the cliff!" she said while she tried to catch her breath.

"I'm glad you both are all right," he said, trying to catch his own breath.

"I'm Mrs. Keller. This is Anne Sullivan," the blond woman introduced themselves.

_So,that's what happened_, he thought.

"If you'd be so kind, sir, as to drive the carriage for us. I'm afraid I'm so shaken, I wouldn't be able to

drive." Mrs. Keller said.

"It would be my honor, ma'am." Phineas smiled.

He drove the carriage almost with expertese. Or at least he made it look easy!

It wasn't that far to the house and he was in awe on how big the house was. He and Jeffrey hadn't

when they had first arrived there in 1889. _Good lord,_he thought,_I need to get back to Jeff!_

People were gathered in the front yard, waiting for the arrival of Anne Sullivan. Phineas gladly stopped

the carriage, his muscels aching.

"Good lord, Maggie! Whatever happened to keep you from getting here on time?" the man with a

mustache asked.

"Don't fret so, Captain. Our horse was spooked by a snake and this kind gentlman saved us from

certain death!" she said as Phineas helped her down.

"Is that so?" Captain Keller boomed, his dark eyes eyeing Phineas.

"It was nothing, really." Phineas said, helping Anne Sullivan down.

"I should say it was! You must have dinner with us, Mr..."

"Bogg. Phineas Bogg," he shook the Captain's hand.

"I really can't stay. I was on my way to see my son," he had to come up with an excuse some how.

Actually, that was quite true. Jeff was stuck in 1889 by himself with Helen. But, now Helen should be

well trained, so Jeff should be okay now. But, he wasn't. He was missing the kid's smile.

When the others were walking up the house, he checked the omni. _Green light,_ he was happy to see.

Though, he had to wittness the very first meeting of Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller. It was amazing.

_Now, to get back to Jeffrey_...


	4. Chapter 5

Back in 1893, Jeff was having fun 'talking' to Helen, who was now a well-behaved young woman. He

He heard the famliar whistle and a crash in some bushes. His eyes grew wide.

'Is everything all right?' Helen signed to him. He put her hand on his head and nodded. Then he

spelled out 'Yes, but I'll be right back.' She nodded and busied herself with her needlepoint. It

was a beautiful day and she wasn't ready to go in yet.

Jeffrey ran to where the noise had come from, his little legs couldn't run fast enough!

As he got to the bushes, the pirate was standing up and brushing his pants.

"Bogg!" Jeff gave the older man a bear hug.

"Hi ya, kid! Miss me?"

"Like crazy! But, you gotta see this, Bogg. Helen and I are talking!"

"That's great, kid.Why don't you take me to her and show me?"

"All right!" Jeff dragged Bogg over to where Helen was. She looked up and smiled at him.

Jeff told her who the stranger was and why he was there.

'Is he your father?' she asked.

Phineas watched Jeff take her hand up to his head and the boy nodded.

'Then, he can stay.' Jeff laughed at her last statement.

"What she say?" Phineas asked.

"She asked me if you were my father. I told her yes and then she said, then he can stay."

Phineas chuckled.

"Tell her thanks,"

Jeff did and she laughed whole heartedly.

At that point, Anne Sullivan came around, almost out of nowhere!

"Well, I thought I heard familiar voice and I was right! Took you long enough to get back to us,

Phineas." She put her hands on her hips.

"Hello, Anne. Nice to see you again." he smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek.

She smiled and signed something to Helen. Jeff laughed.

"Okay, now I feel out of the loop." Phineas moaned.

"Hey, you can't know everything we say about you,Bogg." Jeffrey said, nudging his old friend.

It was Phineas's turn to put his hands on his hips. "And why not?"

Jeffrey laughed and slapped his partner on the shoulder.

"It's okay, Bogg. Anne just told Helen that you and I were cute,"

Phineas smiled. "Thanks,"

Anne told Helen what Phineas said and in her own voice she said, "Your welcome,"

The foursome headed for the house in merry conversation. They were greeted by James.

"Well, my helper has returned!" he said to Phineas.

"Yes, I have. Sorry I had to leave with unfinnished business,"

"That's all right, Phineas. Jeffrey told me where you went off to,"

Phineas looked over at his partner.

"I'll tell you later," Jeffrey whispered.

The rest of the day, Phineas went back to helping James and Jeffrey and Anne kept busy with Helen.

At dinner, Phineas and Anne kept eyeing eachother and Jeffrey noticed. He just moaned

inwardly and kept eating the delicious food. There was no way he was gonna eat beef jerky for

awhile! Or have the need to! He hated the stuff, though Phineas swore by it.

After dinner, Phineas and Anne went for a walk while Jeff and Helen stayed on the front porch swing.

They talked for awhile, then Helen rested her head on Jeff's shoulder and hand on his knee. The

feeling he felt was strange. He never, in his twelve years of living, never had a feeling like this

before and he decided to talk to Phineas about it later that night. He put a comforting arm

around Helen and enjoyed the spring air.

Meanwhile, Phineas and Anne enjoyed the peacefull walk with eachother. Anne had her

sunglasses on.

"Anne, it's dark out. Do you need those glasses even now?" he asked her. He had her arm around her and felt her shiver.

"Any kind of light hurts my eyes, Phineas. Even the lights from the lamps out here."

"Ugh, that must be terrible!"

"Sometimes it is a burden, but is helpful in many ways." Anne smiled.

"Helpful?"

"Well, if I took my glasses off, you'd know how I was feeling right at this very moment." she put

her head on his chest.

"Would it be that bad that I knew?"

"Phineas, let me ask you something."

"Okay. Shoot,"

"How long are you and Jeffrey going to be here?"

Phineas shrugged. "I don't know, actually. Depending on if the kid and I have done our job,"

She looked up at him. "Your job, Phineas? And what would that be?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you that. Jeff and I just help people if and when we can."

"That's a difficult job. What if they don't want your help?"

"That's a good question, Anne. But, sometimes they need our help when they don't know they

need help."

Anne poundered on his last statement for a minute. She suppose what he said was true.

Sometimes she herself don't realize she needed help until it was too late.

"Is Jeffrey your son, Phineas?"

_uh, oh, here it comes,_ Phineas moaned inwardly.

"No, but I'd like to think he is. He's a very good friend and I love him just the same."

"Oh, that's nice. I wish Mr. Keller acted the same way with James."

"Yeah, I've noticed that, too. I hope Jeff and I don't do that,"

"I don't believe you will, Phineas. I sence a different comerade between the two of you. You

two respect and adore eachother and it shows. Jeff looks up to you and I know you respect him

as well,"

Phineas was impressed with her insight. She hit the nail right on the head with the two of them.

He didn't know that what was between the kid and him showed that much. Phineas supposed it did.

As of now, he was enjoying this time with Anne. A walk in the moonlight and the feeling of a

nice cool breeze hitting their faces.

He was hoping that Jeff was having the same kind of night he was with Anne. What was he

thinking?

The kid was only twelve years old! He couldn't possibly have those kind of feelings, could he?

He was gonna have to ask Jeff a few questions...


	5. Chapter 6

Later that night as they got ready for bed, Bogg decided it was time to ask Jeff the questions he had thought of earlier. It proved that Jeff had thought of the same thing and had beatened him to the punch.

"Bogg, I've watched you women the last year and thought it was crazy how you fall for them. But, now with Helen..."

Phineas smiled at his partner. "Out with it, kid."

"Well, I've got strange feelings for her and I'm not sure if I wanna react to it,"

Jeff sat on his bed and Phineas stirred out the window in deep thought. _So, this is being a father, huh?_

He turned and faced the boy.

"Jeff, I don't know how much you all ready knew about this sort of thing before I came along. You may just feel infatuation or something. You're not ready for love, yet."

"How do you know that? How do you know how I feel?"

"I'm just saying you're too young to understand about women..."

"That's why I'm asking you, Bogg! I maybe only twelve, but I dooo know about love!"

Phineas brought up his hands in protest. "Jeff, I'm sure you KNOW about love, but to understand it is totally different. You could end up really hurt,"

Jeff looked at the floor, knowing that his partner was right. If Phineas knew anything, it was love and women. Phineas's heart went out to the kid. He knew the boy was hurting and aching to find something to fill that void.

"Okay, ready to find Richard?" he sighed, getting out the omni.

"Now? Shouldn't we tell them we're leaving?"

"They won't notice a thing, kid." Phineas smiled.

"Okay,"

In a flash, they were gone to 1958, Tennesee.

They landed hard on a soft ground, but it wasn't hay. It was dirt.

"You okay, kid?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where are we?"

"1958, Tennesee."

"All right!" Jeff got up and ran down the dirt hill.

"Jeffrey!" Phineas ran after the boy and the both of them nearly tumbled in the process.

As they got to the bottom, Jeffrey laughed when they stopped rolling. He sat up and looked at his partner who was giving him a nasty look.

"C'mon, Bogg.Quit acting like such a grown up! This is time to have fun!"

Phineas stood up and helped his partner.

"I've done having fun over 500 years ago, kid. We've got work to do."

Jeff sighed. He was gonna have to show his partner what having fun was all about...whether he wanted it or not.

He brushed the soft dirt off his pants and looked towards the group of men looking at a car.

"Bogg, let's go over there, please."

"Okay, but stay with me."

"Awww, Bogg. That's Lee Petty! He's not gonna hurt us,"

"I said stay close to me. We don't know these people well enough,"

Phineas made his voice as stern as he could to make it clear to the kid he didn't want to get seperated.

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at his young partner.

"Jeffrey..."

"Okay, okay. But, **I** get to talk to Richard."

"What!?"

"Listen, Bogg, Richard's only thirteen right now. I'm twelve. Think he'll listen to you?"

Phineas thought about it. The kid was right. "Okay, I'll handle Lee Petty. You just be careful,"

They went there seperate ways. Jeffrey found Richard filling up the tires on his father's car.

"Hi, ya." Jeff smiled. Richard, his future idle, looked up at him and returned the smile.

"Hi, ya. You lost?"

"Nope. Came to help you,"

"You're out of uniform," came the southern drool.

"Sorry. Guess they couldn't find any my size."

Richard looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah, you are kinda small. What they have you doin, anyway?"

Jeffrey shrugged. "Don't know yet. My father thought I'd be better off with you for now."

"Oh, so you came with your pop, huh? Where is he?"

Jeffrey looked around and saw that Phineas was talking to Lee Petty.

"Over there with your father,"

Richard stood up, over two inches taller than Jeffrey. That made Jeff feel like a shrimp, though his partner was taller than him. Course, Phineas was older, so that was natural. But, to have a kid only a year older than him being taller...he shrugged it off. After all, this was his idle he was thinking about!

"Ahhh, Pop's always ready to talk to new comers. Hey, you two have a place to stay?"

"Not sure yet," Jeff shrugged.

"C'mon, I know Pop will allow you and your father to stay with us."

Jeff followed with high hopes. This was too much to be true! Getting to stay with the Pettys!!!!

They got to Phineas and Lee during their conversation of cars, which surprised Jeff. He knew Phineas didn't like the things.

"I'm not too fond of cars myself, but Jeff seems to be interested in them." he heard Phineas say.

"You're a good man to bring your son here, then. I don't know many men who would do that,"

"Well, Jeff isn't one to ask to go anywhere that much, so I thought this would be a good place for him."

"What kind of a uniform is that you have on? Are you part of the side show?"

That was when Jeff decided to chime in.

"Hey, Pop. Got a job, yet?" he asked and got a very strange look from Phineas.

"Pop???" Phineas asked, never hearing that phrase before.

Jeff gave him an appolgical look.

"Say, Pop, is it okay for Jeff here and his father to stay with us? That is, if they don't have a place all ready.."

Lee looked over at Phineas. "How about it, Phineas? We've got tons of room,"

"Where have I heard THAT before?" Phineas muttered to Jeff, who swatted him on the arm.

"Okay, we'll stay with ya," Phineas sighed.

"All right!" Jeff made a sound of triumph.

"Richard, have you got those tires all blown up?" Lee asked.

"All but one,"

"Well, then, best get them all finnished if we're going to race tomorrow."

"Okay if Jeff comes with me?"

"It's all right with me. We'll meet you two in an hour at the food stand,"

With that, Jeff went off with Richard. The two new friends chatted away as Richard finnished up filling the tires with air. It only took a few minutes, so afterwards, Richard showed Jeff the grounds.

Jeffrey felt so free without having Bogg with him. He loved the guy, but there came a time when he just wanted to be left alone.

Richard looked at his watch. "We'd better get going. Pop is really strict about the time,"

Jeff sighed. "Yeah, tell me about it. So's mine," But, Phineas had a much different reason.

They met up with the older men at the food station and the smell of hamburgers made Jeff's stomach grumble.

"Everyone ready for dinner?" Lee asked.

"Bogg?" Jeff asked. Phineas nodded, he was hungry, too. When was the last time he and the kid eat?

At the Kellers? That seemed like an awful long time.

Jeff got a hamburger, hot dog and fries and Phineas got the same. They sat with their new friends. Richard put a soda can infront of Jeff, who eyed it carefully. It had been a long time since he had a soda..dared he introduce Phineas to it? Would Phineas get hooked on soda like he did on hot dogs? Well, only one way to find out.

It was the hot dog that Phineas bit into first. It had been such a loong time since he had the delicious food and was glad that they were still around in '58. He wasn't sure about the hamburgers, though he and Jeff had them in London.

The fries he enjoyed, especailly with the ketchup on them. Phineas was once more engaged in a converstion with Lee. This time about women and that just happened to be right up his alley! Once in awhile, he'd hear Jeff's laughter and was glad of it. He hadn't heard that laughter while they were in the Keller's time zone. Perhaps coming here was a good idea after all.

That night, it was the first time he and Jeffrey had slept in seperate rooms in a long time. It was oddly quiet. He turned off the light and closed his eyes when he heard a tap at the door.

"Bogg?" came boy's sleepy voice.

"Come on in, kid." Phineas turned on the light as Jeff walked in.

"I'm sorry, Bogg. I'm just not used to sleeping in a room by myself."

"That's all right, Jeff. Climb on in." Phineas pulled the sheet back and allowed Jeffrey to scoot in.

He was glad that the bed was a king size bed. He moved over and gave Jeff a pillow. To tell the truth, he was feeling a little lonely without the kid being there.

"Can ya sleep?" he asked his boy.

"Yeah," Jeff nodded. He turned off the light and pulled the sheet and blanket up close to his chin.

"Night, Kid."

"Night, Bogg."

Phineas heard the heavy sigh from Jeff as he rolled over and closed his eyes once again for the night.


	6. Chapter 7

The next morning, Bogg and Jeff hurriedly got ready. Each of them knew that they were going to have a busy, yet interesting, day ahead of them. Bogg was to stay close to Lee Petty and Jeff to Richard.

As they near the end of the stairs, they could smell bacon and eggs and coffee brewing. Richard met them at the bottom.

"Mornin', ya'll. Sleep okay?" the other boy asked with a wide smile.

"Yeah, we slept pretty good. I think yesterday wore us both out," Bogg told him.

They entered the kitchen as Lee Petty was dishing out the eggs onto plates. Bogg and Jeff sat down as well as Richard.

"Well, gentlemen, today's gonna be a busy day. Lots to do before we do a trial run," Lee said as he planted himself on the chair.

"What's a trial run?" Bogg asked Jeffrey.

"Just to make sure that the car's in working order before the race," the boy explained.

"Oh," Bogg took a bite of the eggs and was surprised at the different flavor. Lee smiled.

"Notice something, Phineas?"

"Yeah. It's got kind of a tangy taste to it,"

"That's Pops specailty. He puts salsa in his eggs," said Richard.

"Interesting," Bogg nodded and took another bite.

They were done with breakfast and dishes in less than an hour as they were excited about the day's events.

The conversation to the race track was light and airy, the boys talking about car racing and the men talking about women.

As they got the race track, Richard took Jeffrey to the cock pit. They had taken the car there the night before.

"What we have to do it today?" Jeff wanted to know. He knew that he and Richard did a lot of work yesterday, so he was interested in what needed to be done.

"Oh, basically cleaning the car inside and out. Doing little details we might have missed yesterday and so forth," Richard shrugged.

Jeffrey noticed that Richard thought the work was no big deal. But, to him, it was. Getting a chance to work with the future car racing legend was a HUGE deal! Jeffrey wished he had a camera, but then again, with all the travels he and Bogg did, if he had a camera for all of them, he'd run out of film quick!

"So, what you wanna do, Jeffrey? Detail the inside or the outside?"

"I'd say outside. I don't know much about the insides of cars," came the answer.

"Done deal. I'll show ya where the cleaning supplies are and we can get started."

"Okay," Jeffrey nodded.

Back in the 'powder room', Bogg and Lee were going over the last minute details of the trial run. Bogg had no idea there was so much to do with car racing, but then again, this was his first time.

"How fast do you actually drive on the track?" Bogg wanted to know.

"Oh, I'd say about two hundred miles an hour, maybe faster. Got no copers to chase us!"

Bogg laughed at Lee's comment.

"Would you like to drive?" Lee asked.

Bogg held up his hands. "Oh, no! I don't really like cars, let alone drive 'em. When I do, it's mostly cuz I HAVE to."  
Lee nodded understandably. "I understand you there. Tell you what. You can hold the time watch while I do the trial run,"

Bogg agreed. "I guess that'll be okay. Can't do any harm doing that!"

Lee laughed and slapped Bogg on the shoulder. "No, ya sure can't!"

Bogg and Lee left the building to see what Jeffrey and Richard were up to. Richard had just taken Jeffrey to the pantry where the cleaning supplies were at.

"Hi ya, kid. Having fun?" Bogg put an arm around Jeffrey. The big brown eyes looked up at him and they nearly glowed!

"Bogg, this is great! I'm gonna help Richard clean the car while does the inside detailing!"

"That's great, kid."

Bogg leaned towards Jeff and the boy knew that meant some serious talking.

"Jeff, the omni's still red. I still haven't a clue what's going on,"  
Jeffrey sighed. "Don't look at me, Bogg. I don't know, either. As far as I know, Richard is STILL gonna race for a living,"

"Well, maybe something's gonna happen later. Or, maybe it might not have to do with the Petty's at all,"

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see,"

"Yep," Bogg nodded.

"So, you two ready for some serious work?" Lee asked as he and Richard came back.

Jeffrey and Bogg were so into their conversation, that it was obvious to them hat Lee and Richard had left.

"Yeah!" Jeffrey nodded.

"Okay," Lee chuckled. "Phineas and I will see you two in about two hours,"

"Be carefull, kid." Bogg whispered.

"You, too, Dad." Phineas smiled when Jeff said that. He had almost forgotten that Jeff was his son!

The four men went their seperat ways. Jeffrey couldn't believe how dirty that car was! He used two buckets of water before he finnished the first side and he still had a ways to go. Jeff was thankful it was a nice and warm day. He was sure to be soaked by the time he got done!

Richard worked on the tires, the engine and the inside of the car. He noticed something was missing on the dishboard and sighed.

"Jeffrey, I gotta go to the pantry. It might take me awhile, so if Pop comes back before I'm back, tell him, will ya?"

Jeff nodded. "Sure thing, Richard."

Richard turned to look at him. "By the way, since we're now friends, you can call me Rick."

Jeff's face lit up. "Really?"

Richard nodded. "You bet,"

"Then, you can call me Jeff,"

"It's a deal," Richard smiled and left.

It seemed that Richard had been gone quite awhile when Lee and Bogg got back. Jeff was soaked to the skin, but the grin on the boy's face told Bogg he was enjoying every minute of it!

"Where's Richard?" Lee asked, concerned in his blue eyes.

"Oh, he went to the pantry. He did say it might take him awhile,"

Lee sighed. "I hope he didn't leave you here to do all the work,"

"Oh, no, sir! I'm doing the outside detail and he's doing the inside. He might've seen something missing and went to get it,"

Lee nodded. "Could be,"

"Lee, if we're gonna get this thing done, we'd better do it now." Bogg said. He was anxious to know WHY the omni was still blinking red.

Bogg and Lee left Jeffrey to finnish up the cleaning process. He looked at the hood of the car and tried to figure out how he was going to climb up it. He didn't really want to get the benders dirty again by stepping on them, so he climbed onto the opened window and got ontop that way.

Jeffrey hadn't noticed Lee coming out and getting in the car. Suddenly, he heard the car start!!! He yelled, but he knew that Lee didn't hear him. Knowing how loud it was outside, Jeff can just imagin how loud it was inside.

He threw the rag down to the ground and clinged for dear life of the hood and braced himself.

The car sped to the race track and Jeff closed his eyes as the wind became fierce.

"Bogg!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He hollered, knowing full well that his father wouldn't be able to hear him. He kept his eyes shut from the wind and his hair.

Jeff could feel his hands trying to let loose, but he gripped tighter. The wind was strong and stinging his face and arms.

"Bogg..." he cried out.

Back at the dugout, Bogg opened up the omni. It turned green. _Great_, he thought._ Now I can get Jeff and we can get back to headquarters._

He looked around to find his son. Richard was just coming back from the pantry.

"Richard, do you know where Jeffrey is?"

Richard shook his head. "No, sir. I saw the car gone and when I didn't see Jeff there, I thought he was with you,"

"No, he's not with me."

They both at that point heard the car speeding around a corner and turned to face it.

"Why's Pop driving it? I wasn't done..."

Bogg's sky blue eyes widened in fear. "I think that's Jeff ontop of the car!!!"


	7. Chapter 8

Richard gasped. How could his father NOT know there was someone ontop of the car???!!!

Bogg sprinted across the grassy field and headed towards the track. His heart was pounding. His boy was ontop of the car...no wonder the omni's green! That meant that Richard wouldn't get killed and he would stay into racing.

Suddenly, his feet gave way once he hit the pavent and he slid to the ground. Bogg whinced as he felt the skin of his leg rip from the fall.

Bogg could see Richard trying to wave his father down, but to no avail.Lee was still speeding towards Bogg.

Meanwhile, ontop of the car, Jeff saw his father laying on the pavement. "No, Bogg!" he gasped, though the wind took much of the words.

He kept holding tightly of the hood, though his fingers were getting tired as well as his body.

Jeff banged on the hood of the car, hoping that would get Lee's attention.

Inside the car, Lee heard the pounding on the hood. He turned his head and saw Richard flagging him down and then saw Phineas laying on the pavement!

He stepped on the brakes as hard as he could. Jeff felt the movment and braced himself for anything that would happen. He prayed that he would be able to stay ontop of the hood as the car skidded to a hault. It seemed like a long time before the car would stop and Jeff could hear the compaints of the tires as they skidded.

Bogg saw the car coming closer towards him, but he heard the brakes, so he knew that Lee was trying to stop the car.

He tried to get up, but his left leg just wasn't going to budge.

Richard ran all the way to Bogg, his lungs full with air.

"Phineas, I'll help you up!" the boy told the Voyager.

"It's, it's okay, Richard. It'll stop in time,"

Both men looked up just in time to see that the car did indeed stop just inches away from Bogg.

They saw Jeffrey ontop, holding for dear life, his face down.

Richard helped Bogg up and the priate went to help his son.

Lee got out of the car and took off his helmet. He gasped when he saw Jeffrey.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know he was there!"

Bogg took hold of Jeff's arm. "Jeff, it's okay. The car's stoped,"

"I-I can't let go, Bogg. I'm afraid," Jeff couldn't look at the man, he still thought that the wind was pressing down his head.

Bogg smiled and brushed the boy's hair with his hand. "It's okay, Jeff. I've got you,"

Hearing the calming words, Jeff tried to let go. "I can't, Bogg."

"Here, let me help." Phineas straightened out Jeff's fingers. Jeff rolled off the car and into Bogg's stretched out arms. The boy clinged to Bogg's neck tightly.

"I was soooo scared, Bogg!"

"I know, kid. I know,"

Lee went around the car and put a hand on the boy's back. The boy's big brown eyes looked at him.

"Jeff, I'm sooo sorry. I hope this won't stop you from liking racing,"

Jeff forced a smile. "Are you kidding?! Besides from being a little shakey, I'm fine."

"You sure?" Bogg asked, concerned about Jeff's well being.

Jeff nodded, but he still didn't want Bogg to put him down. He felt safe in the pirate's arms.

"Well, the omni's green," Bogg whispered in his ear.

"It is?"

"Yep,"

"You know something, Bogg. It'll be different for me to see a race now,"

"Yeah, I bet!" Bogg grinned.

Bogg gingerly put Jeffrey down, but still held the boy close.

"What do you say we try that Daytona place again?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay,"

Richard looked back. "Jeff, ya wanna help push the car back?" But, all he could see was an empty spot where he thought their new friends were...

**INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA. 1970**

Jeff and Bogg landed on seats at the race track.

"Hey, that was cool." Jeff smiled.

"Yeah. Wish this would always happen," Bogg sighed and he looked at his omni.

"Daytona Beach, Florida. 1970."

"All right! Let's go see if there's any sign of Richard," Jeff got up and helped Bogg.

"Sounds good to me,"

"Was the omni green?" Jeff asked hopefully.

"Sure was, kid. Since you got ontop of the car and Richard didn't, everything's where they should be."

"Great,"

They walked towards the gift shop and Jeff was relieved to see that there were tons of pictures of Richard Petty.

"This is great, Bogg! Back to normal!" Jeff sighed.

"Lovely," Bogg moaned.

When he saw Jeff ontop of Lee's car, he wasn't sure if he was gonna like car racing now. That was almost for his heart to handle!

Jeff had gone to the cashier.

"Ma'am, when does the next race start?" he asked.

She looked at her watch.

"Oh, in an hour."

"Terrif! Thanks!"

For the next four hours, Jeff and Bogg looked like normal father and son. Cheering on their favorite car racer: Richard Petty.

Bogg STILL didn't like cars, but he figured if Jeff did, then it was well worth the time.

Besides, there is always time when **BOYS WILL BE BOYS!**


End file.
